For information about your baby’s nutrition and health from 0 – 6 months please contact your healthcare professional

First teeth! Consult your dentist about fluoride for your child’s teeth. Until a child learns to brush his teeth, the mother must clean them for him.

Your feelings about the birth

Your feelings about the birth can range vastly, from euphoria to depression, from fulfilment to a sense of loss or indifference, from disappointment to extreme gratitude. You will relive the birth many times and may feel disappointment if, in your eyes, any factors were a failure.

Your baby lifts his head up when lying on his tummy. His hands can grasp a small rattle, and he has started laughing.

Clinics and primary health services are freely available in most countries in Southern Africa. Locate your closest clinic and the telephone number from your local authority or hospital.

Becoming a parent is full of Excitement

The first six to eight weeks after your baby’s birth is known as the post-partum period, a time of physical and emotional readjustment. Your reproductive organs need to return to their pre-pregnant state, and the family has to adjust to a new baby and the demands that this brings.

Baby is growing and getting excited about, well, just about everything. Especially playtime and all the things hands can touch. Hands are so fascinating! He reaches out for things, although he often overshoots the mark.

An action plan for your family and friends.

He starts to roll over from his tummy onto his back.

Thrush is a fungal infection and can be found in your baby’s mouth, nappy area or under the chin. The fungus lives on the skin and usually causes no harm, but when conditions are favourable, it thrives and causes havoc.

Clinics and primary health services are freely available in most countries in Southern Africa. Locate your closest clinic and the telephone number from your local authority or hospital.

Getting enough sleep during the first months of your baby’s life means adjusting to your own new sleep habits and those of your baby. Here are a few things that might help with getting baby to sleep and to help you get sleep:

Babies all have individual temperaments, which will affect their sleep patterns. Some are sleepy and others more alert and wakeful.

Taking care of a newborn baby is a full time job which requires dedication from you and your family. So when you’re planning to go back to work, you can only imagine how much that’s going to test your organisational skills!

If you are ever concerned about your baby’s health, behaviour or development, consult your doctor or clinic sister. It is better to be safe than sorry. Rather obtain treatment earlier than later.

Parent-infant interaction

Interaction with your baby begins before she is born. You usually feel life at about 20 weeks into pregnancy as light, fluttering sensations.

Use your hospital stay to learn how to bath your baby. Babies usually have their first bath about an hour after birth. This may vary slightly, according to hospital policy and the condition of the baby.

you have decided to bottle feed your baby

Birth weight depends on several factors, including the mother’s nutritional status and genetic disposition. The average weight for a newborn is around 3,3 kg.